There is an inherent need for fuel supplies to be as free of contaminants as possible in order to prevent unwanted effects resulting from their use. Vehicle fuels are often contaminated by silicon, and this contamination can be introduced in a number of ways. For instance, gasoline may contain toluene or other waste hydrocarbon solvents, which may contain silicon compounds. Ethanol fuel blends may become contaminated by the silicon-based antifoam agents used in ethanol plants.
The existence of silicon in fuel supplies can wreak havoc on machines and vehicles that use the fuel. The existence of silicon in gasoline, for instance, can be detrimental to certain parts of an automobile engine, including oxygen sensors, catalytic converters and spark plugs. This often leads to the unwanted cost of repairing and/or replacing these parts. In order to mitigate this damage, there is a great commercial need for a method of analyzing the amount of silicon present in petroleum products and other fuel mixtures.